Chapter 9 - Decisions

When I woke up I was in my bed and the sun was shining. I looked over to the clock and it was eight in the morning. I rolled over and realized I wasn’t alone. I jumped and then screamed. I had forgotten all about my shoulder.

“Are you ok, what’s wrong?” Daniel asked.

I could barely get the words out, “Shoulder. Sorry you scared me, I was expecting you to still be here.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, but I definitely wasn’t going to leave you alone. Now what’s wrong with your shoulder.”

He sat up, got off the bed to walk over to the other side, and started touching my shoulder. I winced, holding back tears that wanted to break through, it hurt so badly.

“Your shoulder is definitely broken, I need to get you to the hospital.” He said sounding as if he was in pain.

“Ugh, I hate hospitals.” I groaned.

“Yes, but he might have shattered the bones. You can’t just let that go unseen.”

“Oh, alright.” I gave in.

He helped me out of bed slowly. Even though I wasn’t moving my shoulder, moving the rest of my body hurt it. He decided to pick me up and carry me to my car. I hated it, but it was a lot easier. I was a painful drive, every bump hurt, I was starting to think it might have been more than just my shoulder.

I thought just the ride was painful, but once I’d gotten in to see the doctor, he start poking and squeezing, I didn’t succeed at holding the tears back then. Sure enough it was broken, but thankfully that’s all it was and it wasn’t that bad. He said that it actually wouldn’t take that long to heal, and I only had to wear this weird shoulder brace and a sling for a couple weeks. He also thought it was weird that I had broken that bone, and that I was very lucky. I felt lucky after the he told me about some of the stories of the horrible shoulder breaks he’s seen, some even needed a whole cast that went to from their shoulder, to their hands and even across their chests. Thank God it wasn’t that bad!

The Ride home was a lot better after the pain killers the Doc gave me. It was almost after noon,  my grandparents and Lilly should be home soon. I just wanted to go back in and crawl in to bed, so that’s what I did. Luckily Daniel came up with a good excuse to tell the doctor, so I already knew what to tell my grandparents.

I was going to tell them that I was carrying a box that was way too heavy, that I had slipped and fallen and the box landed on my shoulder. It was believable enough; I’ve never been the most graceful person. Almost everything I touched ended up broken or landing on the floor so much, it should have been.  I was completely lost in thoughts about my clumsiness when Daniel started talking. With the meds it was harder than I thought to focus.

“So I’m going to drop you off, then I’ll be hiding out somewhere near your house. Once I know your grandparents are home, I’m going to run home and explain things to Laura and Logan, and they will help. No one will ever hurt you, and I’ll make sure of it.” he said.

“Mmk.” I must have had more pain meds than I thought.

He started laughing, “I take it you’re not in pain anymore.”

“Uh uh.” I answered.

“Well, that’s good.” He said laughing a little harder.

“Ok well, we’re here now.”

“That’s great. I’m so tired.” I said while yawning.

He helped me out of the car and I stumbled and almost fell, but thanks to his great reflexes he caught me. He decided to carry me back inside. We walked through the door way and I noticed what that breaking sound was this morning. He had practically ripped the door off the hinges, but somehow the way he did it, it was easily fixable. He carried to my room, laid me in bed and kissed my forehead. I passed out almost immediately.

***

Two months had passed and there was still no sign of that revenge seeking vampire. Daniel and I both knew he would come eventually, but he had probably hoped that after too long we would forget and my new bodyguards would slip, and occasionally leave me alone. Well, if that’s what he thought, he thought wrong. As time went on, I was only watched more. There was always someone at my house, someone at Daniel’s house, and always one searching the areas in between. They never found a trace, but he was out there, waiting.

It was in the middle of the afternoon and I was in the living room with my grandparents. I was surprised that my grandparents were home, it was a Sunday and they usually went to their friend’s house. They never did tell me what friends it was, but I guess it didn’t really matter. They didn’t tell me much about their lives, as I never told them much about mine. I assumed they didn’t go anywhere because I still had the sling on, and Grams had been very helpful.

That evening after the emergency room trip, I had woken up once my meds had worn off. I went out to the kitchen to see all three of them sitting down to dinner. Lilly had started to get up, but Grams had to stay in her seat. She already knew about my condition, thanks to Daniel. Instead of going straight home, he waited for my grandparents to come in the house to explain my shoulder situation himself, he was afraid I wouldn’t get the details right. I was glad he did. So, since then Grams had pretty much been by my side and being an extra help with Lilly, as if that was even possible. I still couldn’t believe how much time she spends with Lilly, it almost feel like I barely got see her anymore. But in this case, it was a good thing. Grams never did give me her opinion of Daniel.

We were all watching some movie that I couldn’t remember the name of, since I wasn’t paying attention much. Somewhere over the last two month Gramps got a little more friendly, occasionally returning a smile, though still never actually talking to me. Grams told me he was trying, and it looked like he was trying really hard. That made me kind of sad. Either way he was trying and that was all that mattered. Lilly had fallen asleep on the couch next to Grams and I was sitting on the floor in front of  her. I was thinking about a lot lately and I had the tendency to space out even during conversations. Couldn’t really blame me, I had a lot going on, but my grandparents didn’t know that. They assumed it was the pills I was taking for my shoulder, even after I had stopped taking them.

“Rayanne? Did you hear me?” Grams asked, waving her hands in front of my face.

“Huh? What?” I said quickly snapping out my distractions.

“I said Daniel is here.” She said pointing out the window.

“Oh!” I jumped up trying not to use my right arm, I was getting the cast off in a couple days, but I still didn’t want to accidentally hurt it again, and ran quietly out the door.

Daniel was just coming through the gate when I met him and we stopped to talk on the porch.

“How’s the arm?” he ask holding my hand that wasn’t in the sling.

“Great, barely even hurts anymore.” It actually didn’t hurt at all, but he probably wouldn’t believe me.

“That’s good. So, what have you been up to today.” He said, while smiling. He knew pretty much everything I had done lately, since he was the one watching my house.

“Nothing really, just hung out with the family, as usual.”  I spent as much time with them as I could lately. Just in case.

“Ah, do you and Lilly want to come out to my house?” he asked.

“Uh, sure.” I was a little hesitant answering; he never invited us both to his house.

“Ok, I figured you would want to bring Lilly, I know she’ll be safe here, but just being cautious. Laura and Logan will still be keeping an eye on your house even while you’re with me, also just being cautious.”

“Good, and your right, I would’ve asked if I could of bring Lilly anyways.” I said and he laughed.“Ok well, I’ll go get things ready. She’s asleep, but she should fall back to sleep in the car.”

I went to my room, grabbed some clothes for us both, and shoved them in a bag. I went back out to the living room and tried to explain things to Grams.

“Grams we’re going to Daniel’s for the night, we should be back tomorrow morning.” I said trying not to sound nervous.

“Staying the night?” she asked with a curious tone.

“Yes, he reminded me that his sister would be leaving soon, and I haven’t gotten to spend much time with her.” I lied, and I surprised myself with my quick lie. I must have surprised Daniel too, I could hear him laugh once from outside on the porch. Luckily Grams didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh ok, I didn’t know you and her were that close. Well, I guess I will see you two tomorrow then.”

Daniel came in to get Lilly, since I couldn’t, and we walked out to his car.  Luckily Lilly stayed asleep as he put her in her seat. I was just about to get in the car when I hear a noise coming from where my bedroom window was. My body jerked to face its direction.

“It’s just Laura.” Daniel reminded me.

“Ok.” I said and got into the car.

We pulled out of the driveway and I glance up at Daniel. It looked like something was bothering him.

“Are you ok?” I asked him.

“Yes, just thinking.” He answered.

“What are you thinking about?” I was curious; he usually always told me right away what he was thinking about. This probably had something to do with him suddenly wanting me to come over tonight.

“A lot of things really.” He answered, an attempt to avoid this conversation, but I wasn’t giving up.

“Are you going to tell me what?” I was starting to get annoyed.

“Maybe later.” The corners of his mouth turned up to start a fake smile, it didn’t work so well.

“Promise?”  I asked and he laughed. “I’m serious.” I was starting to get worried now, if he wanted to wait, that meant it was something serious.

“Yes, I promise.” He answered, with a real smile on his face.

We sat in silence the rest of the way to his house. When we had gotten there, he carried Lilly all the way up to his room, to put her in a bed since she was still sleeping. I had no idea why he had a bed, but he just said it was just in case. I let it go and went to sit on the couch with him.

“Is it later yet?” I asked, not ready to let that conversation go.

“You are very stubborn aren’t you?” he asked, I could tell it was a rhetorical question. “Ok, we can talk about it. I just don’t know how to ask, or what you would think of it. I also don’t want you to get mad at me.” He looked at me with a cautious expression.

“Just ask me. I don’t see how I could get mad at you, and who knows what I would think about it, until I actually get to think about it.” I tried persuading him. Definitely serious.  I thought.

“Ok then, um… Laura and I were trying to figure out the best ways of protecting you. After all this time, we kind of expect the worse now. He’s waiting and that is leaving him room to make up a new plan. That is if he chose too. We really couldn’t come up with much, but Laura still insists on one thing, and it really dose make sense, but its completely up to you, its your life.” He said, looking down and my hand, reaching for it with his.

I thought about that for a second, though he didn’t actually tell me what that plan was, I knew it was in fact serious. Something he didn’t want to ask, something that had to do with my life, and something that would definitely protect me. If I was thinking right, then I knew what he was going to ask.

“Let me guess…” I paused, trying to make sure this was what he was going to ask, but it was the only thing that did made sense. “You want me to become one of you guys?” I asked, looking at him, waiting for his reaction.

He laughed a little, “Your fast.” He looked back up at me and smiled. “It’s up to you completely Rayanne, but it would be the best, the safest thing to do. Then he wouldn’t be able to hurt you the way he wants to. I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything, and you could still raise Lilly. Though, um… I don’t know if it would be the safest for her, for you to be around her very soon after you change.”

I had never really thought about becoming one of them, but it did sound nice. I loved him, and I knew that if I could, I would spend forever with him, never aging. I would be able to watch Lilly grow up and have children of her own, and watch her raise them. It sounded nice, weird, but nice. One thing he mentioned didn’t seem to make sense to me though.

“How would that be unsafe to her?” I asked.

“Soon after we change, it takes a while to get back to being our, well somewhat, normal selves and I wouldn’t want you to hurt her, since she will still be human.” He said, sounding uncomfortable.

“Oh.” I couldn’t really get anything else to come out. I sat there for a moment thinking about that, wondering what would happen with Lilly during the time I waited to be “normal.” Could I really hurt her? I didn’t think so, but I guess since this was all to keep safe, I wouldn’t want to risk it. I had no idea what I should do. “Can I think about it a little more, I don’t want to make a snap decision right now.”

“Of course, I didn’t expect an answer right this minute, but as soon as possible though.” He said, taking his hand away from mine to run his fingers through my hair. “I just want you to be safe, Rayanne, and  this is really the only way that can assure that.” He pulled me closer to him, hugging me with one arm.

I laid there against him for a few minutes, thinking about the possibilities of that, me becoming a vampire.  Somewhere while thinking about all of that I must have fallen asleep, because I was soon seeing images of me after the change, running through the forest with him and unbelievably fast speeds, my feet barely touching the ground, feeling absolutely amazing. The images shifted and we were back at his house and Lilly was playing on the floor in front of the TV. It looked like she was maybe a year or so older, she looked happy. Everything actually looked happy.

I knew it wasn’t one of those dreams where what I was seeing was the future. My dreams had a different feeling for each. The regular dreams just felt… Hopeful. While the future dreams felt like I was actually there, living it, I could feel everything. This one felt very happy and hopeful, I wanted this dream to be the future.

Something poking my cheeks woke me up, and when I opened my eyes Lilly was standing in front of me with a smile.

“Mommy, get up!” she said then started laughing.

“Ok.” I mumbled. I sat up and glanced around the room, she was the only one I saw.

Daniel came walking in and Lilly went running to him with a huge smile on her face. It was just like an image from my dream, except of course, I was still human.

“Sleep well?” he asked, laughing.

“I guess so, sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” I said, rubbing my blurry eyes so I could focus better.

“It’s ok. We’ve been just playing. She’s got a lot of energy.” He said, laughing again.

Me and Lilly sat on the couch and watched the Little Mermaid, while Daniel was in the kitchen making dinner for us. It was one of her favorites, good thing I had thought to bring it, because it was the only thing that calmed her down.

Once again Daniel just sat there talking while we ate. Lilly was done before I was and he took her in the living room to play some more, I finished up while watching them. It didn’t take her long to get wore out again and soon she was ready for bed. I went up to the spare room that had the bed, got her ready and then tucked her in. She fell right to sleep with a smile on her face. I walked back downstairs and Daniel was just sitting on the couch in complete silence.

“So have you thought about it?” he asked before I had even gotten to him.

“Yes, a little.” I answered, standing in front of him, not exactly sure what to say.

“Oh, well you still have a little time.” He said patting the spot next to him on the couch.

I walked over to him and sat down. “Well, I have, but...” I didn’t know how to word it, so I just blurted it out. “Yes.”

“Yes? Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“Yes, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Why keep you guys all scattered out, waiting? Who knows when he’ll be back? It’s been two months so far, it could be six more. I don’t want Laura and Logan to have to keep doing things and it can’t be much fun for you either.” I was rambling now, so I decided to just stop.

He started laughing. “This isn’t really about us. Well, me I guess yes, but them no. Your safety is all that matters and they agree. Plus, I have no problem babysitting my human girlfriend why a vengeful vampire is out to get her, because of something I did years ago.”

“It all matters to me Daniel and so my decision is yes.” I said, nothing thinking it was all that funny and making it final.

He smiled and hugged me. “Don’t worry Rayanne; it’ll all be fine soon.”

“So when are we going to do this.” I asked. I just wanted to get it over with.

His smiled disappeared and he tensed a little. “I don’t really know. We’ll have to decide who is going to do it and then you will have to let your grandmother know you’ll be staying here for a couple days.”

“Who? A couple days?” I rushed the words out. I’d figured they had all this planned out, instead of comforting me with knowing all the facts, nothing has really been decided yet.

“Calm down. Laura might have to, she’s done it before, and well I never have, and I don’t trust myself. I say a couple days, because that’s how long it takes for the process to change you. Sometimes it takes one day, sometimes more.” He said, smiling again.

Somehow, whenever I freaked out, it seemed to amuse him. It annoyed me a little. I just sat there, waiting for him to say something else, but he just stared at me. I couldn’t think of anything to say, I didn’t want to say anything that might make him laugh, when this was a serious situation. I was about to give my life up for him, and to stay alive at the same time. I was starting to feel a little crazy again. I glad he started to talk again.

“So, now that, that decision is made, I can call Laura and find out what she wants to do. She’ll probably have Logan take her spot and then come here.” He said, getting up to get his phone.

Once he was out of sight, I laid flat on the couch with my face in a pillow. I wanted to scream, everything was happening so fast, but I didn’t, that would just make him think I wasn’t sure of my decision and I was. I was definitely sure, I just wanted to take some time, but I also wanted to get it over with. I couldn’t make sense of anything. I knew what I wanted, but it was a big thing to just not be human anymore. Daniel came back in the room, interrupted my crazy thought and just stared at me for a second before talking.

“Uh… Laura is going to do it this next weekend. We’ll give it that long after you go back home, just so your grandparents won’t be suspicious. You can tell them were going on a trip or something. We’ll think of more details for what to say after that when we get there, but it’s set and there’s nothing to worry about.” He said.

He walked over to me, pulling me up and over so he could sit down with me leaning on him. I sighed in comfort. I just had to keep telling myself that there wasn’t anything to worry about. The same thing I’ve been telling myself for two months now, but now for a different reason and I believed that. Anything with Daniel seemed possible.

 

Author's Note

I'm new at writing and I except any criticism. I just ask that you please be nice about it. There may be some grammar errors, but I haven't made things final yet.

Reviews

[...MysteryGirl...]

Love this!
It is one of my favorites.